Caprese salad is simply delicious.

I am deeply in love with its elegant simplicity.

It magically combines the deliciousness of tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, basil and some kind of lovely drizzle.

Just lately I came across the most adorable presentation of this salad – instead of slicing larger tomatoes and placing them next to mozzarella slices, this version turns cherry tomatoes and cubed mozzarella into the cutest Caprese bites.

What a gorgeous idea!

I just love it!

To make about 30 Mini Caprese Bites you will need 1 pound (500 grams) cherry tomatoes, 1/2 pound (250 grams) mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup (60 ml) extra virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons (30 ml) balsamic vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and fresh basil leaves.

And toothpicks.

1. To assemble the Caprese Bites, first cube the mozzarella.

2. Then thread tomato half, one piece of cheese, another tomato half and a basil leaf onto toothpicks. Place toothpicks in a shallow serving dish.

3. And lastly, whisk together the oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and drizzle the oil mixture over the skewers.

Enjoy this fresh and summery treat!

With love,
Petra

(The recipe adapted from framedcooks.com. Makes about 30 skewers.)

Well, here they are, the colorful babies, my sky-touching joy, my newly finished project – the Crochet Owl Cushions!

Remember how I told you about my super secret owl mission in one of my last posts?

Sooo, this is it.

The whole idea has been brewing in my head since I finished my Owl Purse a few months ago. I knew that that project wanted to go even further. To bring more owl loveliness to you… and me too…

It took me about a month to put it all together… from sketches, through about 8 samples, up till today when I edited the last picture and wrote the last word in the pdf pattern.

Oh yes, of course there is a pattern. I live for the patterns. For cuteness needs to be shared, right?

In case you’d like to learn some more, you can check the pattern in my shop. It is patiently waiting there for you with all its 28 pages and 53 helpful pictures. I am just sure you will enjoy this project as much as I have.

See you soon!

Love,
Petra

I treated myself to some delicious cookies yesterday.

They were Peanut Butter Cookies, to be more precise.

I ate many, to be even more precise… pure bliss!

These cookies are unbelievably easy to make. Even kids can help and have a great time.

Both smooth peanut butter or the crunchy one can be used, the choice is yours.

The result will be just irresistible!

Here’s what you need.

You can replace 1/2 cup of the white sugar with its brown alternative if you can find it in your pantry or if you are a better recipe planner than me…

1. To make the cookies, first beat the butter until creamy, about 2 minutes.

2. Add the sugar, beat for 2 more minutes.

3. Mix in the peanut butter and egg.

Just like this.

The mixture is starting to look lovely, isn’t it?

4. Now mix together the dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

5. Stir the dry ingredients into the sugar butter mixture.

6. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate at least 3 hours.

Because I was in a hurry, my dough spent less time in the fridge than it was supposed to… which in turn resulted in a little flatter cookies… so, hm, don’t be like me…

7. Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C).

8. Shape the dough into 1 1/4 inch (3 cm) balls.

Place the dough balls about 3 inches (8 cm) apart on a lined cookie sheet.

9. Flatten in crisscross pattern with a fork.

…

10. Bake until light brown, about 9-10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Enjoy, dear friends!

Love,
Petra

(Source: simplyrecipes.com. Makes about 24 cookies.)

I have a few simple things which has made me happy recently that I need to show you.

It’s my random joy!

For life has been quite busy around here as of late, the list is a little brief, yet happy, happy, happy… just like the trip to the nature shown above.

What a wonderful and magnificent statue. I love nice statues. This one looks so fairy-tale-like, doesn’t it?

On the home front, things have been fun too.

Choosing colors for a new project is always fun, just like this time.

This project has been keeping me quite busy this week.

I am slowly moving it from the realm of plans and ideas to reality.

I will share more details next week… for now, just a little sneak peek into a very messy phase of it all.

And last but not least, my current love, my gem, my darling, my sweet Tillbaka from Ikea. Isn’t it just cute?

Have a lovely weekend, dear friends!

Love,
Petra

The Happy Little Suns are back… this time with a picture tutorial.

I’d say that it’s quite simple to make them, the whole process requires only basic sewing and crocheting skills.

These are the needed supplies.

Felt: since each sun consists of two circles which measure about 4.2 inches (10.5 cm) in diameter, to make one sun you will need a piece of felt which measures about 9 x 5 inches (22 x 12 cm). Of course, you can create suns that will be larger or smaller than that.

Yarn: I have used sport weight yarn in beige color to embroider the face and worsted weight yarn in yellow color to crochet the border.

Crochet hook: G (4 mm).

Pen/marker, scissors, yarn needle.

A bowl:  I used one that measures about 4.2 inches (10.5 cm) in diameter. It is used to trace the edges of the sun.

Polyfill/toy stuffing: … pssst, I use cheap pillows from IKEA to get my polyfill. They cost only about $1 and they have tons of polyfill inside. Okay, maybe not tons, but it’s still a LOT!

1. To begin, place the bowl upside-down on the piece of felt and trace the edges of the bowl with the marker.

Repeat to mark one more circle.

2. Cut along the traced marks so you have two circles.

3. Draw the eyes, nose and mouth on one of the circles.

4. Using a sewing stitch which is called the chain stitch, embroider the eyes and mouth.

If you are not familiar with this sewing stitch, you can find plenty helpful videos on Youtube.com.

Then make two short stitches to embroider the nose.

5. Now, place the circles on top of each other, with the embroidered circle being on top.

With the yellow yarn and using a sewing stitch which is called the blanket stitch, join the edges of the circles. The blanket stitches should be placed about 1/4 inch (7 mm) apart. Before you finish joining the circles, leave a small opening through which your little sun will be stuffed.

You can make as many stitches as you like, but the final number needs to be dividable by 3!!!

My suns have 45 blanket stitches.

Again, Youtube.com offers lots and lots of videos on this stitch too.

6. Fill your sun with some polyfill.

And finish the sewing.

7. Now the crocheting part ensues (with US crochet terms being used!)…

Attach the yellow yarn to one of the blanket stitches.

To do so, make a slip knot and set it aside; insert the hook in random blanket stitch, then insert the hook in the slip knot…

… Then pull the slip knot through the blanket stitch,  yarn over and pull the yarn through the loop on your hook. And that’s our first stitch.

8. Continue with:

- chain 3, skip two blanket stitches, slip stitch in following stitch,

- *chain 4, skip two blanket stitches, slip stitch in following stitch*

- repeat the *…* part till the end of the round,

- then finish with one slip stitch in first stitch of this round.

9. In each ‘chain 4′ loop of previous round crochet a shell consisting of these stitches:

*1 single crochet – 1 half double crochet – 1 double crochet – 1 treble crochet – 1 double crochet – 1 half double crochet – 1 single crochet*.

Repeat the *…* pattern all around, then join with slip stitch in first stitch of this round.

Finish off and weave in the ends.

And that’s it.

In the previous post, I asked you about ideas on how these little suns could be used and you came with many awesome possibilities… and I thank you for all you all of them (you can find the suggestions in the comment section of THIS post).

For now, I only attached a simple short string/piece of yarn to the back side of two top shells and secured both ends of the string with a knot.

That way, the little suns can easily be hung anywhere you’d like.

And here’s a little picture roundup:

Enjoy!

Love,
Petra

(To see more of my patterns, please visit my ONLINE SHOP!)

This might easily be the most sinful treat I have ever made in my whole life.

Just imagine the luscious layers of crushed Oreo cookies, peanut butter and whipped cream mixture… with some additional whipped cream and chocolate on top. Magic!

Needles to say that here, in our house, we enjoyed this dessert a lot. In between the delighted oohs and aahs we managed to agree that we are allowing ourselves to have something similar in not less than a year. The calories and the sin, you know.

And you know what? We can’t wait until that day comes…
 

Here’s what’s needed for the magic to happen.

1. First, the Oreos… try to resist.

I did not.

Place the Oreo cookies into the bowl of a food processor and pulse into fine crumbs.

2. In a small bowl, combine the cookie crumbs and melted butter.

Although the original recipe calls for the butter, when I make this recipe next time, I will try it without the butter. I think it will taste just fine and I will reduce the calories a little.

3. Stir to combine.

4. Evenly divide the crumbs between about five serving dishes.

5. In the bowl of your electric mixer with the whisk attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks form.

Transfer the whipped cream to a small bowl and place it into the refrigerator while you prepare the rest of the filling.

6. Now some lovely and smooth peanut butter enters the game.

Place the cream cheese and peanut butter in the mixing bowl and beat until smooth.

7. Then add the confectioners’ sugar and the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

8. Stir the whipped cream into the filling mixture until well blended and there are no streaks.

9. Evenly pipe or spoon the filling into individual serving dishes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

If desired, garnish with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

Enjoy, dear friends!

This tastes amazing!

(Recipe inspired by mybakingaddiction.com. Servings – 5.)

Hi, dear friends!

Lovely to see you again. I hope you had a lovely weekend.

Mine was very calm, good and colorful.

I decided to put a small dent in my felt stash and create these bright and cheerful ‘Little Happy Suns’.

I loved that project a lot.

They just bring a smile on my face every time I look at them.

I like them as they are but right now I am considering possible ways to use or display them.

I am thinking of hanging each little sun on the wall individually, or join them all with a beaded thread to turn them into a longer hanging wall decor… or making a garland out of them…

Or a baby mobile. I am sure they would look lovely as a mobile.

Do you have any other ideas? I’d appreciate hearing them. Do tell!!!

Oh… aaaand, I made a few pictures while they were being made… so I guess I will post a free tutorial soon. In fact, they are pretty easy to make with just some basic sewing and crocheting involved.

See you soon!

Love,
Petra

Hi, dear friends!

Lovely to see you here again! I hope you are doing fine!

Today, I am happy to introduce my newest crocheted creation to you – it’s Matilda The Owl!

Oh yes, if you know me for a little while, you’ve probably noticed how much I adore these little creatures called owls and how they hold a very special place in my heart.

There’s something so captivating and cute about them, don’t you think?

Maybe it’s in their eyes, I dunno, but what I know is that I love them to bits.

Anyhow, I had a great fun creating little Matilda. If you’d like to make one (or two, or ten) too, you can find the pattern in MY SHOP. It has a lot of pictures, as usual.

And you know what? Frankly, there’s another project brewing in my mind right now, aaand… I am afraid it will have something to do with the realm of owls too. See? I told you I’m obsessed. I can totally see it – there will definitely be a lot of colors and cuteness involved.

So, off to do some amazing hooky business…

See you soon!

Love,
Petra

What a perfectly written song!

In every single way!

I can’t stop listening to it. And I mean I CAN’T!

And besides, I think I have just found a very, very, very, very lovely item for my ‘curly collection‘, if you know what I mean…

Do you like it too? And I mean both – the song and the curls?

Love,
Petra

I failed this week.

Badly.

And then I recovered.

Quickly.

This is the whole story…

It all started with my sincere intention to show you a tutorial for the most adorable project I have stumbled upon recently – lovely chocolate cups.

There were supposed to be many colorful balloons that are dipped in melted chocolate and the chocolate is then let to firm up resulting in the, already mentioned, most adorable chocolate cups.

Theory sounded easy enough.

But… BUT (!)… after a short briefing from my boyfriend about the dangers of putting warm chocolate and rubber balloons together I ended up wrapping the balloons in plastic foil. Just to stay on the safe side, you know.

Though looking innocent and smart, this plan failed completely. The chocolate just wouldn’t adhere to the foil very well, that’s what I didn’t know before and know now… for sure.

Live and learn!

Well, failing needs to happen once in a while… that much I know. And you know what? I also know that a fail needs a good therapy – if possible, a very colorful and happy one. Because balance is important!

So there I was, with a color-and-cuteness-craving spot in my soul that desperately needed to be filled.

Whit this pressing feeling inside me, I found myself running to the nearest shop where I grabbed the most colorful thing in sight…

A wonderful, wonderful nail polish.

I just loved the shade of this pink.

And then I also loved the blue bottle.

And then I fell in love with the yellow… and red… and green too!

Aahh!

I looted that place.

Pure bliss!

I so recommend this brand… I just needed to let you know. It is pure perfection!

To make things even more awesome, the colors have very funny and cheerful names… like Aretha’s RESPINK for pink.

Or Blue Cara Ciao.

And Birdy Reloaded! He-he!

Bloody Mary To Go!

Or ACid/DC.

Who wants to say green if they can say this! Love it!

As I have found out right now, I am in desperate need of eight more hands – I would just like to wear all these beautiful colors at the same time.

Anyhow, this is the end of my little story.

And the moral of it all?

Well, do not expect your chocolate to adhere to your plastic wrap.

Or, no matter what, don’t you give up on you colors!!

Or, sometimes I just make very little sense, it seems…

Love,
Petra